A play-by-play recap of the first mayoral debate

In print, I could only give you the best quote from each mayoral candidate — and each one had a nice zinger to close the debate. But there were countless quotes Tuesday night at Ambrosia, and that’s where the blog comes in handy. It’s an important election, so hopefully you will pay attention to what the candidates said and will continue to say in future debates.

So here are most of the topics, topic by topic:

OPENING STATEMENTS

Paula Ryan, who was the most serious candidate throughout the debate and barely cracked a smile, went first. She opened with a business friendly line about wanting “to bring common sense back to the city, create an economic development plan and a strategy to bring us to the future. I want to hold line on taxes and hold line on fees.”

But then Ryan went personal. She appeared to indirectly address Sunday’s article in The Palm Beach Post about a nearly decade old incident where she was cited for leaving the scene of an accident (Ryan has maintained she did nothing wrong): “Most importantly I want to bring civility back to government. Civility in politics is anything but that. We have recently seen what this campaign is going to generate. But let’s not focus on that, let’s focus on the issues and let’s go back to whats most important to the city of West Palm Beach. I’ve known struggles in my life. I am one of seven children, I am a single mom, I put myself through and put my son through college. I come from a strong service oriented family with two siblings who recently returned from Afghanistan. I have spent my life working on communities and trying to improve lives of the people.”

Charles Bantel was next, and the campaign’s surprise candidate immediately hit on cutting city salaries: “We have the potential to go ahead and get out of this recession. It will take a review of the city’s budget, a careful look at all of our administrators, what they do and how they do it so we can go ahead when the banks come back, the builders are ready to build and the city government is ready to go. I excel in construction, code knowledge … along with accounting skills to look at the budget and quite a few things need to be questioned. We have so many three figured salaries in administration salary, and we need fiscal responsibility.”

Jeri Muoio took a very upbeat approach in her opening statement, where she laid out the same plan that she has laid out at numerous fundraisers. She uses her name (JERI) as an acronym for jobs, environment, restructuring/reinventing and integrity, calling it “the Jeri plan.”

“I have qualifications, the experience and the plan to make a difference in our city,” Muoio said. “After all isn’t that what it’s all about? I have a PHD in education and I’ve held leadership positions for over 25 years… We have an $8-10 million budget shortfall and we have to cut that much after having cut $30 million already the last two years. It’s going to take some really creative work in our city to figure out how to create and offer services and do it most effective and efficient way. I have a 30 year track record of integrity and honesty, and I plan to bring that to the city as mayor.”

Molly Douglas went last and didn’t really give an opening statement. Instead, she told a story of how the city’s construction services was a mess before she was elected commissioner, and how she was responsible for cleaning up and restructuring the department. “I restored the faith, integrity and efficiency of that department. It took two and a half years to get it done. Now we’re so permitting friendly that we’re contracting services to Lake Worth and that’s added revenue… It’s coming back and we’re ready.”

BUDGET CUTS

While the city is anticipating another $8-10 million budget shortfall, Ryan said the problem is identifying where the spending is occurring. “The truth is we don’t really know what that deficit is. Has anyone ever looked at that budget? It’s very difficult to identify where the spending is occurring… . Parks and rec has an $8.5 million budget. Parks in the western communities are deteriorating. Ten years ago, we built those parks. I’m not sure where that money is going. We can get additional revenue by outsourcing our information services departments. Governments all over the country are producing revenue either helping other governments with information services or reducing costs… We also have a $2 million a year police overtime budget. The question is are we utilizing our dollars efficiency? Has this strategy made us any safer? Ive experienced crime personally right in this city.”

Bantel again criticized the city’s high paid managers. “$125 million of our budget is salary. That’s the place that’s going to have to be cut. What I’m going to do is start with the managers first. They can turn in a resume, a job application, a description of their job, and I’ll start one by one at the top and work my way down to see what they do and if they fit the position. If they do, they stay. If it’s excess they’re going to get moved.”

Muoio, who didn’t win the endorsement of either the police or fire unions, took a shot at the police and fire budgets. “There are no sacred cows. The big elephant in the room every city is facing is that we have to deal with pensions. It’s not going to be easy but we have to do it … we have to look at personnel, salaries and look at every corner of the budget.”

Douglas told a story of how when Nancy Graham took over as mayor years ago, she learned that the city’s budget deficit was much more than she was told as a commissioner. “If we’re just $8-10 million short, I’m a happy lady. I don’t believe our budget at all. I have an evaluation team ready to hit the front door and evaluate every single department. Until we do a genuine audit of the current administration, we can’t make decisions. It’s easy to say change this, change that, but we don’t have all the facts yet.”

PENSIONS

Bantelsaid the city has to move from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. “That way it doesn’t get passed on to future mayors, commissioners and future generations. That way funds will be controlled by unions, and invested however they want.”

However, Muoiosaid it’s unrealistic to go to a defined benefit plan because it would cost the city $400 million to change the plan. “I’ve talked to the police union and the fire union and they understand the problems. They want us to be really productive in negotiations so we can move forward.”

Douglas(who was endorsed by the fire union) said the city has to continue to work with the unions, and that the problem really has to be fixed at the state level and then trickled down. “We have to work as hard as we possibly can with our unions and see how negotiations turn out and then find a state legislator who is willing to take it. You have to remember how strong the unions are at the state level and all that has to take place before any changes made. It’s going to be a very long time before change, and I believe we will resolve it. Believe it or not, we have some of the most responsible unions in the state that are concerned for our city and financial future. We’ll work with them.”

Ryan, who was endorsed by the police union, said she will work with the unions to come to a solution. “We’re not going to let the city go bankrupt, not under my watch anyway. I don’t think it will be hard finding a state legislator to take it to Tallahassee. Every community in the state, in the country is facing the same problem. The unions want to be treated fairly, honestly and they want a seat at the table.”

PAY TO PLAY

Muoiowas the first asked whether there’s a pay to play atmosphere in West Palm Beach. “I’ve never seen any pay to play. This is not a pay to play city. We have instituted many strong reforms since we’ve been on the commission, since I’ve been on the commission. We now have a lobbyist registration. We have made our campaign financing reports public so you can go on our city web site and see who is contributing to our campaigns. We are so incredibly tough about the sunshine law. We don’t talk to each other about anything, and it’s very strongly enforced. I think our city is a highly ethical one.”

Douglasalso said there’s no pay to play in the city. “Nobody’s ever even offered me a cup of coffee. Reports of dishonesty in city government are terribly exaggerated and it just doesn’t happen. One thing Mary Brandenburg said to me is that all you hear about are the bad eggs and not the good eggs. There are a lot more good eggs. Service to the community is in most people’s heart, it really is.”

Ryandidn’t say if there’s actually pay to play in the city, but she said the city government needs to be more open. “They wouldn’t have asked that question if there wasn’t a perception out there in community. The question is why is there such a perception in the city of West Palm Beach? There are policies and then there are practicalities. Do we actually have an open government? Is everybody’s voice heard? Are you able to walk into the door and discuss a project you might think would be helpful to the city and get any consideration? The public is seeing something different than the policy being presented.”

Bantelagreed with Muoio and Douglas. “If you have any evidence of pay to play, simply go to the state web site, click on ethics and make out a complaint. Maybe that’s the way it used to be, but it isn’t anymore, the state has really cracked down on it. I myself haven’t seen any evidence of it. With the sunshine laws, I have seen the city work tremendously at workshops and in commission meetings to make sure whatever goes on is on Ch. 18.”

Crowd shot at Ambrosia debate

ATTRACTING BUSINESS IN THE CITY

Douglassaid she already has a proven track record with her work in Northwood. “I want a diplomat that will go out into the world and attract economic development into this city. We are one of the best cities. Why would a business not want to be here? We have not reached out as a city to attract those businesses. I have wonderful people in mind to make that happen, and I believe that can happen. Have you taken a look at Northwood? That’s my baby. I used to have a fear of losing my purse there, and now I can’t get a dinner reservation.”

Ryansaid the city needs to have an economic development manager. “We need to understand what economic development is. If a business wants to come to the city, they need 18-24 months to move through the planning process. I don’t know any business that can wait 18-24 months to start operations.”

Bantelsaid it’s all about cleaning house. “We have to clean house from the top on down. Part of the plan is finding out where the bureaucracy is, where it’s holding up people and then have somebody at the city putting permits in place.”

Muoiosaid the city needs an economic development czar. “We need to make sure we’re welcoming to business and making it easier for them to come in. That’s not the case at this point and even on our best day we can be better. We have an exciting opportunity with Digital Domain coming to our city. We can have more education in the city with a research triangle of digital media. We have an amazing opportunity on this.”

REVITALIZING SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

Bantelsaid he would let Commissioner Bill Moss take the lead on this. “What I would do is look for an awful lot of input from him and his citizens as to what they want there. Any redevelopment in the city does cost taxpayers money. He represents the taxpayers and they need to bring it to the table.”

Although the city can’t legally have a CRA district in the south end, Muoiosaid something similar needs to be done. “We need to get citizens and business owners and see what they want it to look like. We want a committee in our city looking at this. I think there are some possibilities with the arts and antique district. One thing the mayor has agreed to is to have the Urban Land Institute take a look at Palm Coast Plaza.”

Douglassaid the city needs funding, not more committees. “I know what the people in the south end don’t want, and they don’t want hookers walking the street and they don’t want anymore bars with fights. I don’t think we need a ton of more meetings. What we need is the funding and the political will to get it done. That’s how the north end happened and that’s how the south end will happen.”

Ryansaid the south community has already worked on a plan. “We brought together resources within the community — architects, engineers and they brought ideas they wanted to see in the community. The response from was that we don’t have any money. We need increment financing, which is called urban infill. We cant do CRA, but we can do urban infill. We can work with Palm Beach County to get increment financing that’s needed.”

THE AIRPORT

Although the city doesn’t really have much say in the expansion of the airport, Muoiosaid she is against it. “I know that we’ve been talking about being an international airport, and as I understand Ft. Lauderdale only has one runway. I don’t see why we can’t continue to grow and be an international airport with one runway. We have wonderful historic districts that would be ruined if there’s a new runway put in there. As it comes to fanning, I’m not sure about fanning. This has been proposed and some people are for it, and some are against it. I want to make sure that people have the quality of life needed in our city and having an airplane go over the same house all day, everyday doesn’t bode well for quality of life in that area.”

Douglassaid she was against fanning and airport expansion. “Pilots hate fanning and it’s not a safe policy and procedure.You have a dramatic change in direction in a short amount of time. I lived in Flamingo Park for many years and there was hardly any plane noise when I lived there. It was dramatic when I was walking there recently.”

Ryanwas also against fanning and airport expansion. “I don’t want to increase when we don’t have the need or demand. We may just never be that international destination city. Right now, I don’t know how many flights you fly international, but if I go international I go out of Miami. If I traveled internationally I’d probably live somewhere else.”

Bantelsaid he is a licensed pilot and is against fanning. He also said there’s problems with a small airport near his house on 49th Street. “They put an airport right down by St. Mary’s Hospital. The trauma hawk goes there, the coast guard, they all fly low. It rattles my window, my roof, and they come in and say it’s all about emergencies. West Palm had a police helicopter and they would circle my house. I’d call 911, I couldn’t sleep.”

REVITALIZING COLEMAN PARK AND OTHER DOWNTRODDEN AREAS NEAR DOWNTOWN

Ryan said she has worked with Commissioner Ike Robinson on revitalizing that area for more than a decade. “We have to look at all the tools we have as a a city and put some controls on the people that control what goes on in those communities. The community is literally a stones throw away from the Intracoastal. If you come down a little further south, the price of real estate is dramatically increased. We just need to put a focus on it. We need to do what we’ve done for other parts of the city in the community. We’ve done a great deal working with the city, commissioners and the mayor. under my leadership we will continue those efforts.”

Bantel said a key to that area improving the infrastructure, especially when it comes to the railroad tracks. “Without that we can’t revitalize the area.”

Muoio said the city has already made a big push by working in Coleman Park, Merryplace and Pleasant City. “We need to encourage home ownership and not just have slumlords there, and if we do we have to get rid of them. We have to bring educational facilities to the area. The most powerful thing we can do is have excellent preschools. This area so close to our downtown that we can make that part of some of the really exciting things happening downtown.”

Douglas also said a lot of good work has been accomplished, but she said the city needs to respect the historical significance of those neighborhoods. “That’s something we’ve fallen a little bit behind on. We must maintain the integrity of many of the historic buildings even though that cost more money that just bulldozing and building new. The black community deserves recognition of their historic neighborhoods and I’m determined to see that happen.”

CLOSING

After talking mostly about policy, the candidates all made it a bit personal in the closing statements.

First, Douglas said she’d be open to the community. “The most important thing when I ran for commissioner was that I promised that I would be open, I’d be honest, I’d be accessible, I’d answer your phone calls, answer your emails, and that if you needed to see me personally I’d make sure I’d be available. I’ve kept my word. As mayor I’ll be there for you no matter what. If you make a phone call I’ll answer it. If you send an e-mail I’ll answer it.”

Then Douglas took a shot at Frankel. “In West Palm Beach the city commissioners have been suppressed. They wont be in my administration. I’ll want them to make decisions, help create policy and be a part of the government.”

Muoio also appeared to take an indirect shot at Frankel, although she said later it wasn’t meant to be a criticism of the mayor. “You will be respected when you come to city hall, and you will be listened to. My decision­-making will be transparent and I’ll be accountable to you.”

Bantel took a shot at Muoio and Douglas, saying they’re not strong willed enough to be mayor. “They have not been able to stand up to Mayor Frankel. If they can’t stand up to her, what about all the developers? What about special interest? What about the lobbyists? You need to have the backbone to stand up to these people and say no.”

Ryan also took a shot at the commissioners. “They have sat on the city commission for four years and it was their responsibility to stand up and fight for the constituency, and it was their responsibility to understand what’s in that budget. They talk about pensions and all these problems, but these problems have been here for years.”

The next debate will be held on Tuesday at The Palm Beach Post. It will be streamed live on the Internet.